It took a few moments for Tal's vision to recover, but by the time it did, the outcome was obvious.
Despite the speed of the assault, the vampire had still managed to lean away from the beam at the last second, avoiding a direct hit. However, she couldn't fully escape, and was thus missing most of her upper right torso, to include her arm. Nevertheless, there was no pain in her expression. Instead, she appeared to be annoyed, and Tal could even hear her cursing quietly.
"Damn it all. Should've never let Noah talk me into this."
A thick mist rose up around her, and she quickly vanished within it. Tal stood and prepared to defend herself from another attack, but it never arrived. A few seconds later, she heard and sensed Mike touch down behind her.
She could tell that something was wrong before she even turned around, so it was with a growing sense of unease that she faced him. Once he was fully in view, she had to take a moment to process.
Perhaps sensing her discomfort, he was already trying to explain. "I know this looks bad, but there is a very good reason for it."
The demonized half of him chuckled in a guttural voice as if to mock the very idea.
"Quiet you."
Tal took a second to compile her thoughts, tamping down her initial emotional response in favor of one that would be a little more productive. She'd seen enough of him to know that an impassioned plea would accomplish little more than making him feel guilty for a while. To really understand the gravity of his situation, he needed a comprehensive explanation of why this was a mistake.
Speaking in the ancient language of her kind, she demanded. "What is the meaning of this?"
There was a slight pang of remorse on his face as he detected her anger despite her emotionless tone. "It's kind of a long story. There's a lot I have to relate, but since we aren't exactly safe here, I'll keep it short. More or less, I found myself confronting a problem that I needed an army to deal with, and I did not have the resources to solve it by myself. So, I made a deal with the entity infesting my soul."
Tal's mood immediately took a darker turn.
Slightly panicked, he raised his human hand in a warding gesture. "Just a temporary one. It offered to bring its forces to the mortal world in exchange for a little information, and promised to go back to its prison once it was done."
Tal distantly took note of the others forming a defensive perimeter around them, no doubt waiting for their conversation to come to a close. She couldn't tell if this was because they were unable to participate due to the language barrier or if they were simply being thoughtful, but she appreciated the effort nonetheless.
She focused her full attention on the man in front of her. "Creatures like that do not make such deals in good faith. There are always hidden costs."
"Which I assumed would be the case. That's why I incorporated a few safety measures to keep myself from being completely possessed and to encourage the entity to cooperate while it's here." He explained hastily.
"What information did it want?"
"Hm? Ah well, it basically wanted to know if I was from another world."
While that was concerning in and of itself, she could tell that there was more to it. "What specifically did it ask?"
Looking slightly surprised he replied, "It asked if I was born in this body or had it created for me."
She resisted the urge to rub her forehead. The entity's layered plan was finally starting to make sense. "There is a reason it asked the question in that manner, and that is why it is acting cooperatively."
"What do you mean?"
"When a living being is first conceived, their souls are only loosely bound to their bodies. That bond becomes stronger as they age, finally solidifying in early adulthood for most species. This is why children are always at greater risk for possession."
"I see, but I should be fine at my age, right?"
"Regardless of your actual age, your soul has only been inhabiting your body for a short time, meaning you have roughly the same amount of possession resistance as an infant. This is likely the main reason it asked you in that manner, to make sure that if you surrendered control of yourself in a binding contractual exchange, it could use the opportunity to fully possess you."
"Ah...that makes sense. I did think the initial inquiry was worded oddly. Well, regardless, I managed to avoid that."
Tal shook her head. "You have avoided complete possession for the time being, yes, but surrendering any amount of control to a possessing demon is like throwing open the door for them. Even if it chooses to return in this instance, there is nothing stopping it from trying to seize control of you as soon as you let your guard down."
"But the deal…" He tried to argue before trailing off into silence as he thought about the matter more seriously.
Glancing down at his demonized side, she explained, "It does not work that way. Possession is a one sided affair. What the host loses incrementally cannot be regained until the possessing creature is removed entirely. That means that roughly half of your body…"
Mike's human side paled at the implication, which was further enhanced by an amused chuckle from the demon who felt no need to contribute to the conversation. Obviously, it already considered this a victory.
"Well...crap." He muttered, mind already racing. "Then we'll need to expedite that exorcism or whatever, right?"
The demon laughed again.
"If this were an ordinary possessing entity, we would have options, but I suspect that creature is beyond the ability of even the greatest mage to remove without killing you in the process." Tal replied sadly.
"Didn't you say that your master could help?"
"Before, when it only occupied a small portion of you, we could have excised it like a tumor. You would have suffered for a time, but such an injury would heal eventually. Now, however, that would be impossible. There is simply too much it has stolen."
Mike grimaced, a range of emotions passing over his face. "Is there no other way?"
Running through everything that she'd learned about spiritual possession over the course of her long career as a Spirit Mage, she considered the issue from several angles. Initially, it seemed hopeless. At this point the only way to ensure a straightforward removal of the creature was to get its consent to do so, something she knew would probably not be an option. However, a thought occurred to her.
[For anyone else, this situation would be hopeless, but a Spirit Mage would have options. Considering Mike's class, though, he could manage it as well. The issue then would be…]
"There is one possible solution, but to accomplish it we would need a difficult to acquire piece of information."
"What's that?"
Tal opened her mouth to explain, but was cut off as another voice rose to answer his question in the same language. "She means that you will need to know the creature's truename if you wish to force it into compliance."
The group reacted quickly to the newcomer, turning to face her with weapons, or in Lily's case, fists, at the ready. However, Tal quickly stepped in front of them, and offered a deep bow to the elderly dwarf woman.
"Greetings, Master. You look well."
Opal Tagar Continmaki, the most accomplished Spirit Mage in the Inland Sea Region, nodded back with a smile. "I look old and tired, you mean. After all, this journey was not easy for one my age, but I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless."
------------------------------------
Mike was still reeling from Tal's revelations when the woman showed up. So, despite having devoted a significant amount of his attention to his surroundings, he was caught by surprise when her husky voice cut through their conversation.
The speaker was an aging dwarven woman dressed like a farmer, with sturdy brown trousers and a tunic making up the majority of her garb, and a large sun hat covering the majority of her grey hair. Although her limbs were surprisingly muscular for someone of advanced age, she still leaned heavily on her carved wooden staff as she stepped further into view, an obvious limp in her gate.
It took a fraction of a second to realign his focus and use Appraise to evaluate the newcomer.
---------------------------
Opal Tagar Continmaki
Age: 362
Race: Dwarf
Class: Spirit Channeler
Title: Ea's Voice
---------------------------
For a few moments, he considered the implications of her title, which was the most telling aspect of the scant information he'd gathered.
[Does this mean the world has a will outside of the gods themselves? I feel like that should be a larger component of modern religion if it was the case. Could it be ceremonial or something?]
While he was still silently considering how this might alter his perspective on the nature of the world, Opal started moving towards him. As she passed the other members of the group who were looking between her and Tal uncertainly, she told them in the common tongue, "No need to worry, dears. I come in peace."
After a beat, she continued. "Ah, and you can also relax. I've asked for a few of the local spirits to guard the building for the time being. We shouldn't have to worry about any attacks for now."
Sera, who seemed to react the quickest out of the group, placed one hand on one of Lily's balled-up fists, gently pushing it down to her side. "We appreciate that. It's clear that Tal knows you, and while I trust her judgement, I would feel much better about this situation if we knew what your intentions were."
Opal laughed. "Oh, that's an easy one. I'm here to help your friend here with his little demon problem. You don't mind if I do that, do you?"
"Ah...no, that's not an issue."
"Good. Now let me get to the matter at hand, and if I have some time, we'll see about taking care of a few of the ghosts haunting you."
Sera blanched, but fell silent, only watching as Opal sauntered up to Mike in the unhurried pace of a retiree with nothing but time on her hands.
"Now then, child. Let me have a look at you." She said gently while scanning him from top to bottom.
For a brief moment, Mike was reminded of his grandmother, a kind and affectionate woman who had unfortunately passed away when he was still a child. Feeling a pang of the grief that he thought he'd long ago overcome, he didn't even react as the Opal reached forward and placed one hand on his chest.
There was the faintest disturbance in his mana as she evaluated him.
"Hmm, yes. I see now. You've been a little reckless, haven't you? Didn't anyone ever warn you about making deals with demons. Especially ones as old and dangerous as this one is."
"Well, not really. I mean, sort of? It's a little different where I'm from."
She smiled gently at that. "I can see that. There aren't many from your homeland in these parts."
"Wait, do you know someone else from-"
Opal cut him off with a surprisingly strong thump on his chest. "Now, now. No time for all that. We've got a lot to do if we want to head off your possession problem."
"You mean you can do something about it?"
"Of course, child. That's why I'm here after all."
Mike felt a surge of relief. Maybe he could finally be rid of the parasitic entity infesting his soul.
At that exact moment, when his attention was most turned inwards, the demon chose to act. In hindsight, it had been suspiciously quiet while Opal was speaking. Clearly it had been biding its time, waiting for the right moment to strike.
So, it was with agonising slowness that Mike reacted to the movement of his own body, possessed though it might be. The demon half swung one arm towards the old spirit mage, a crackling aura of reddish energy surrounding its outstretched fingers.
Mike tried to catch the limb with his free hand, but he'd noticed the attack too late. Now he could only helplessly watch as his arm grew ever closer.
There was a flare of silver light that filled the room and momentarily blinded him. A pained scream erupted from the entity as portions of its arm began to sizzle and burn under the onslaught.
Led by his now injured half, Mike found himself thrown back with enough force to send him crashing into a wall several meters away.
"My, my. Aren't we a lively one?" Opal asked calmly, a warm smile on her face. "Let's see if we can put that energy to good use, shall we?"